John 7:28-32: a reflection

28Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. 29I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?” 32The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

As Jesus teaches boldly in the temple, declaring that he was sent by the Father whom his opponents do not know, they are enraged and seek to arrest him. And yet, the passage says, no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. Despite their hostility and their desire to seize him, they could not, because the time appointed by God had not arrived. Jesus was untouchable until his hour, the moment set by the Father, had come.

Notice the quiet sovereignty in that phrase: his hour had not yet come. Jesus' life and death were not at the mercy of his enemies' schemes or timing, but governed by the Father's appointed hour. Until that hour, no hostility could touch him; when it came, he would lay down his life freely. His enemies raged and plotted, but they could do nothing until the time God had set. God's timing, not their malice, governed everything.

That truth extends a quiet comfort to God's people. Our lives, too, are held within God's timing. As long as God has work for us to do, we are, in a sense, immortal until that work is done; the schemes and hostilities against us cannot cut our lives short before the hour God has appointed. This is not a promise of escape from all harm, but an assurance that our times are in God's hands, not our enemies'. When you feel vulnerable to the hostility or dangers around you, remember that Jesus was safe until his hour came, and that your times, too, are held in the Father's hands. Nothing can touch you before the hour God has appointed; rest your life in his timing.

Lord, when your enemies sought to arrest you, they could not, because your hour had not yet come; your life was governed not by their malice but by the Father's appointed time. When I feel vulnerable to the hostility or dangers around me, remind me that my times, too, are in your hands, not my enemies'. As long as you have work for me to do, nothing can cut my life short before the hour you have appointed. This is not a promise of escape from all harm, but the assurance that you govern my times. Help me rest my life in your timing, unafraid of what cannot touch me before your appointed hour, and ready to trust you with that hour when it comes.